Box Office: Greed is Good Again, Owls Ga’Hoole in 2nd Place

If you’re Oliver Stone, not-so closeted pinko commie wannabe, capitalist greed has been very good indeed. “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”, Stone’s sequel to his ’80s hit, topped the box office with an estimated $19 million. Though that number is below expectations, first place is first place, and I’m sure Stone, who has struggled at the box office with his last few movies, will take it. Zack Snyder’s “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” pulled into second position in its debut with an estimated $16.3 million. Based on the series of young adult novels by Kathryn Lasky, “Guardians” is an expensive CG movie from Snyder, who has been pretty hit and miss at the box office lately as well.

The only big studio release opening opposite “Wall Street” and “Guardians” was the Kristen Bell romantic comedy “You Again”, which also underperformed, landing in fifth place with $8.3 million. Last week’s #1, Ben Affleck’s “The Town” dropped to third place, adding an extra (and still impressive) $16 million to its coffers, for a two-week total of $49 million so far. Who knows, by Monday the final box office numbers may put “The Town” back in second place over “Guardians”.

Notables:

Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Resident Evil: Afterlife” continues to find fresh blood, accumulating $155 million in worldwide box office so far. The fourth entry into the zombie franchise has done very well overseas, more than doubling its domestic gross. The film is already a big hit for the studio, so expect “Resident Evil 5″ to lumber its way towards cinemas very soon.

Emma Stone’s modestly budgeted teen comedy “Easy A” fell to fourth place in its second week, but the film still did much better than newcomer and fellow demo lure “You Again”. “Easy A” added another $10.7 million to its total, giving it $32.8 million so far. To say that no one expected the comedy to do so well would be an understatement.